What’s on Your Wish List?

Each year, along with the numbers we collect for the annual Meetings Market Survey, we ask respondents open-ended questions, including this one: What’s on your wish list? 

Here are some of your answers: 

• A bigger budget
• A more streamlined marketing campaign
• A successful student-generated TED-style talk competition. Our younger members are active and coming up with great program ideas, which reassures me for the future of our association.
• To be more productive
• A bigger conference
• Easier tech solutions
• Easier-to-place meetings
• Event planning software.
• To exceed my budget goals in revenue and sponsorship
• Finding an event planner to take much of the planning off of my plate
• Finding innovative ways to get attendees to engage
• Finding a person to mentor.
• Finding ways to pay for all I want to incorporate into our meetings
• Helping clients to have really excellent programming for annual conferences — speakers and topics that help to increase registration and to gain greater participation from current members as well as to attract new members.
• I hope to take a vacation without having to work.
• I want to find better ways to get our attendees engaged with each other and our content.
• I would like to see venues have a lower pricing structure for Wi-Fi.
• Increase conference attendance
• Increase in attendance and have our company gain more exposure
• Increase sponsorship and attendance.
• Job security in a term of new leadership — as well as streamlining events and expenses (too many events)!
• Management commitment to contract for our known major events up to 2019
• More challenging clients/projects
• More focus on event design and strategy to tie it into the business strategy, more recognition of the professionalism and expertise of events management
• More professional development opportunities and opportunities to be involved in research and development of the industry
• More staff
• More work-life balance.
• Organizational alignment
• Personal advancements
• Producing excellent programs with the least amount of bumps in the road.
• Requiring independent contractors to have their own liability insurance
• Spend more one-on-one time with my team
• Staff retention
• Strong attendance and increased funding.
• The ability to find new sources of revenue to stop the cutting in the budget.
• The top two items on my wish list are help and appropriate pay for the hours I work.